


happiness hit her like a train on a track

by sunnydalehart



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-11 20:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11721537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnydalehart/pseuds/sunnydalehart
Summary: The connection between soulmates varies for every person. Some have visible things to hold on to as they grow up--a name on a wrist. A timer. First words to be said to each other.Some aren't that lucky.Trini and Kimberly experience each other's pain. Minor bruises, broken limbs, pain that's more mental or emotional than physical.It really sucks sometimes.Trimberly Week Day 7





	1. The Truth Hurts, but Secrets Kill

**Author's Note:**

> It's kind of late, but it's here.  
> Considering that their connection has to do w/ pain, that's kind of a big part of it. But there isn't any gruesome violence or anything
> 
> title from "Dog Days Are Over" Florence + The Machine

Trini didn’t fully process what having a soulmate meant until she was about ten, and by that time she had given up on believing that she actually _had_ one somewhere. Her parents were consistently hopeful, though. They’d tell her that there were thousands of ways she might find out who her soulmate is; and plenty of them wouldn’t manifest until she actually met them. But the thing is, she’s always heard people say they could feel their soulmate before they ever met them. And she didn’t _feel_ anything.

Actually, she did feel something _once_.

She was five or six, hanging out in the living room and watching TV, when it suddenly felt like she had scraped her knee. It _felt_ real, so she cried, but it didn’t make any sense. Her parents were freaking out, not knowing _why_ she was crying, and not really believing when she described what it felt like. Eventually she calmed down, her parents got over it, said something about not telling tall tales, and went back to whatever they were doing.

She had been trying to convince herself that she _did_ make the whole thing up, but she never fully believed that’s what it was.

As she got older, she forgot about the incident entirely. Learned not to make a big deal out of minor incidents that felt _sort of_ painful to her.

Not knowing how she’d meet her soulmate got increasingly more annoying when her parents would tell her she just had to be patient. _They_ didn’t have to wait. They grew up with each other's names on their wrists.

She gave up on trying to figure out what it would be until she broke her arm without really breaking it.

It felt like it was broken, but there wasn’t anything wrong with it. She hadn’t _done_ anything that could’ve made it hurt like that. So, with a much more major (not-so-real) injury and suggestion from a doctor, her parents very excitedly told her that she must share pain with her soulmate.

Trini thinks that’s a pretty sucky soulmate connection to have.

 

\---

 

Kimberly was excited to learn how she’d find out who her soulmate was when her parents explained what the series of zeros on their wrists meant. She spent a lot of her time thinking up different things that might happen. The first words they say to each other that won’t appear on their bodies until they’re actually said. Maybe they’ll have to make some sort of physical contact, or say the other's name before a mark materializes. Or maybe it’s an unspoken thing. They’ll see each other and just _know_ . There’s also some theories about colors, but she wouldn’t _know_ if that were the case until it actually happened. She spent a whole hour thinking about colors so much that it gave her a headache. Thinking about if she’s really seeing _colors_ or if they’re all just different shades of non-color. It got really confusing.

And then she lost a tooth. It was more like an invisible hand just pulled the tooth out while she was calmly sitting at the dinner table. But, after checking, the tooth was still there--not even loose--and there was no blood.

It wasn’t the most glamorous first interaction with her soulmate--if you could even call it an interaction--but she was excited about it nonetheless.

When she was thirteen she had acquired a pretty extensive resume of cheer related injuries--she felt pretty terrible every time something happened. Knowing that someone was out there experiencing the same breaks and sprains and bruises--but hadn’t felt much that _wasn’t_ actually coming from herself. She didn’t feel so bad about it when that changed, and her hand started hurting out of nowhere one afternoon--the kind of pain that might come from punching something. Or someone. There could be any number of explanations for it, but Kimberly couldn’t help but feel like it was some sort of payback for everything she’s ( _accidentally_ ) made her soulmate go through.

It got worse. Her soulmate wasn’t the only one throwing punches; they were getting beat down too. And there was more than just one fight.

The fights followed her up into high school. The more they occurred, the more she started to believe that the person--whoever they were--really did have something against her. Resentment, or disappointment, or something. But she couldn’t understand how someone could hate her so much without even _knowing_ her yet. That isn’t how this soulmate thing is supposed to work.

It wasn’t very good for her self-esteem.

And then there was one specific day that otherwise wasn’t very eventful, but it still marked a change in Kimberly’s life. She was sitting in class when the teacher noticed that her nose was bleeding. She had felt the punch before that, _definitely_ , but tried not to react visibly. There wasn’t supposed to be any other sort of problem because the injuries never manifested physically before. She was confused, pissed off, and worried all at once.

The teacher sent her off to the nurse, but when she got there, all she could really do was sit down with a towel to her nose, lean forward, and wait for it to stop.

That’s what she assumed her soulmate would be doing too.

She was wrong.

As soon as she felt the hint of some burning at the back of her throat she knew something wasn’t right.

Her soulmate was tilting their head back. Kimberly knew that it wasn’t exactly common knowledge to know you’re _not_ supposed to do that, but... still. It was totally possible that nothing would happen. But, with their head tilted back, that meant the blood would fall back too, possibly get in the mouth--the throat--and if it was swallowed…

She felt the pain, but, _thank god_ , she wasn’t literally vomiting. The nurse had no idea what was happening, though, so she didn’t know _how_ to help. Kimberly finally gave her an explanation when everything seemed to be over, and she caught her breath again.

All she said was, “My soulmate is a masochistic dumbass,” and left it at that.

After all of that, she decided the entire idea of _soulmates_ was bullshit, because she obviously had some sort of disconnect with hers. There wasn’t anything else stopping her from dating other people who hadn’t found or weren’t interested in finding their soulmates.

So she officially put herself on the market.

 

\---

 

If someone were to ask Trini why she started getting into fights in the first place, she wouldn’t be able to give them a good answer. She didn’t fully know why she did it herself.

She _did_ know that her soulmate had to be a girl. There wasn’t anything that proved that, but it was a feeling she constantly had. Something she knew wouldn’t go over well with her family. She knew that if she met her soulmate and it _was_ a girl, she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Her family would disown her, and she didn’t think she’d be able to get past that. Not when they’re all she has right now. She also knew that if she was wrong, and her soulmate _wasn't_ a girl, she wouldn’t do anything about it, either. Because she wouldn’t be able to convince herself that it was a happy relationship.

There was a period of time she wondered if her soulmate wasn’t meant to be with her romantically or sexually anyway. It could be a platonic soulmate. She could be cool with that. But she also didn’t think that’s what it would end up being. [It was another feeling she had.]

The fights _weren’t_ about hurting her soulmate, although, in hindsight, it was a shitty thing to put them through. Part of it was a rebellious thing, another part was pissing her soulmate off enough that _they_ wouldn’t want to be with her if they ever finally met, and it was also how she coped with the small identity crisis she was going through.

When she was a sophomore she discovered that the pain they shared wasn’t _only_ physical.

She wouldn't describe it as sadness, really. It felt more like hopelessness. Despair. Like she could cry if she let herself, but it wouldn’t do anything. It wouldn’t make her feel better. It felt like she was constantly holding herself back from some sort of breakdown.

Trini didn't know how to handle it.

It's possible that she'd felt something similar before; like some sadness or anger. But it was always muted. Never this strong. This real. She left her house without any real destination and hoped it'd go away every time the feeling hit her.

It didn't.

It faded. But it was always kind of in the back of her head.

And then it was a year and a half later, she was feeling it again at that same intensity, but it was also a little different. Angrier than before. A couple of days later she had just sat down in her next class when her right hand started to sting. _That_ was a feeling she was familiar with. Her soulmate must've just punched something.

There was a lot of commotion going on out in the halls, but she didn't care to know what it was about. Until the teacher stopped someone running by the door and asked what was going on.

Trini's heart almost stopped when the guy said, “Kimberly Hart just _decked_ Ty Fleming right in the face. She punched his tooth out, dude!”

So… she'd say the chances of her knowing who her soulmate is just increased to about ninety percent.

She has no idea how she feels about it.

 

\---

 

She ignores it until they become Power Rangers. It’s one thing to tell herself that she won’t do anything about it when the only contact she had with Kimberly was seeing her across the classroom in Biology, but now it’s… different. It doesn’t make sense that Kim would _know_ about them being soulmates because Trini had always kept a low profile, but she also isn’t acting like they’re complete strangers. Which, is technically what they are.

Kim follows her when they run away from mine security, not the boys who she had previously been with--the boys with a _car_ that can easily get them out of the area. She runs past Zack the next day, bolts up that mountain and tries to reach out to Trini. And then they’re all leaping across that thing, and the boys have jumped off and into some water, and Kimberly is still standing there, waiting. Trying, but failing miserably to get Trini to _talk to her_.

She knows that believing the whole, _“Can I have a sip of your water?”_ thing was stupid, but she’s going to pull the soulmate card on that one.

Kimberly keeps reaching out to her, tries to apologize, to prove she knows who Trini is, to make a connection. Kind of fails. Kind of succeeds.

It’s getting harder for Trini to brush it off like it doesn’t mean anything.

 

\---

 

The last time Kimberly thought about her soulmate was two days after they found the coins. She had been hit by a train but somehow survived, so she couldn’t help but wonder if her soulmate felt the same thing, but... _didn’t_ survive. Even if she was giving up on finding them, it was still a scary thought. But because there wasn’t a way for her to actively contact her soulmate, she had to put that on the backburner for awhile.

She can’t really say _what_ made her so drawn to Trini, but the “why” isn’t important to her. [ _“Does she feel the same way?”_ is the question she’s more interested in.] She knows that she feels something between them, and that trying to figure out what that means is being overshadowed by this “saving the world” thing. But they’re training and getting closer--all five of them are getting closer--even though it’s only been a few days. Sometimes time doesn’t matter, though; one example being Jason and Zack. Apparently neither of them had been able to see color until they met at the mines that first night. Before training, during training, after training… they’re often _obnoxiously_ all over each other. Kim’s happy for them, honestly, she is. But it can get a little… overwhelming.

She’s fighting a Putty with the others on the sidelines--they’re supposed to be _watching her form_ or something, but she knows Jason and Zack aren’t paying any attention whatsoever--giving more hits than she’s taking. And then she miscalculates and gets punched in the face. By a rock monster. She almost doesn’t react because at the same time she’s hearing Trini call out, _“Fuck!”_

It isn’t that loud, but it’s enough to get her attention, so she turns to see if she missed something or if Trini was just reacting to the bad hit. She just becomes more confused when she sees Trini’s hand near her bleeding forehead where _Kim_ had just been hit. She reaches a hand up to her own forehead, and, yeah, it’s bleeding, too.

All she processes next is Trini and Billy’s eyes widening as they gesture towards her, but she doesn’t know why. Until the Putty hits her again, and she passes out.

[Trini passes out, too, and the guys have _no idea_ what’s happening.]

 

\---

 

Trini wakes up before Kim, and with their Ranger healing she’s technically fine. She takes off as soon as Alpha clears her. Zack follows her the entire way out of the ship, asking questions that Trini really doesn’t want to answer. But before she jumps up into the water she turns to him and says, “Kim’s my soulmate. We feel each other’s pain. That’s our thing.”

Zack’s initial reaction is, “That _sucks_.” But he recovers before Trini can get any further. “So you knew? The whole time?”

Trini nods.

“She didn’t know?”

She shakes her head.

“But… why wouldn’t you say anything, T?”

She doesn’t know how she could possibly explain it to _Zack_. Not when he’s found _his_ soulmate and is just _so happy_ _all the time_.

So she leaves.

Zack, thankfully, doesn’t try to follow her.

Because they’ve been training so much, and are expected to fight in this huge battle coming up, Trini didn’t think she’d be able to hide the soulmate thing for much longer. But she also didn’t prepare herself for what would happen when she _did_ find out. And now… She probably has a few minutes before Kimberly wakes up, and then she won’t have a choice but to face this thing head on.

Nothing happens the rest of that night. She gets worried and texts Zack to find out if Kim did ever wake up, and he says she did. So, either she doesn’t remember, she doesn’t want to acknowledge it, or she didn’t make the connection and still doesn’t know that they’re soulmates.

Kimberly doesn’t say anything the next day either. She makes a comment about staying aware of her surroundings so she doesn’t get knocked out again, but other than that, she acts like everything’s normal.

Trini’s supposed to be happy that they aren’t going to address it. But she isn’t happy. She doesn’t really know what she is.

 

\---

 

Kimberly is seventy-five percent sure that Trini is her soulmate. Eighty-five percent.

...Ninety-seven point eight percent positive.

She doesn’t reach out because Trini doesn’t reach out. They both felt the pain, saw the connection… So they both _know_. But if Trini’s ignoring it, then Kim must’ve been right about “her soulmate” harboring some resentment towards her. Kimberly can’t say she blames her. She’s been a bitch. Done some horrible things. Stopped caring about getting hurt when she knew someone else would feel it. [The train thing was a different situation.] Trini deserves someone better, anyway.

The bonfire that Zack invites them to doesn’t go as well as Kimberly wanted it to. It went fine; but it could’ve gone better. She could’ve opened up to them. And maybe they’d be able to morph now.

She finds herself going to Jason’s to talk things over. The picture thing and the soulmate thing.

He’s about to give her a speech about how she did a bad thing, but she isn’t a bad person, but he never makes it that far. Kimberly can feel something wrong before anything actually happens.

The fear. The scratches, choking, not being able to breath, being thrown around, landing against walls or concrete or something _hard_ . She can’t really talk through the whole thing, barely manages to say, _“It’s Trini”_ so Jason will calm down because Kim is _fine_ , but also so he’ll freak out and worry because _Trini isn’t._ He’s in shock for a good minute before he realizes he should be running to Trini’s house to help her out, and _then_ he realizes that that’s what Kimberly’s gesturing towards the window meant. He’s out of the window, and then the intense part of the pain stops. A couple of minutes later Trini texts everyone to meet her somewhere, so Jason stops and waits for Kim to catch up.

It feels like the calm before the storm.

Kimberly tells herself that if they make it through the night, she isn’t going to ignore the soulmate thing anymore. Even if Trini doesn’t want her, they have to acknowledge that it’s a thing.

 

\---

 

They almost don’t make it through the night.

When they get the Zords and take off into town to finally fight Rita--and hopefully win this time--the pain Trini and Kimberly feel starts to bleed together the longer the fight goes on. When they’re getting crushed in their Zords, there isn’t anymore distinction. It doesn’t matter. They’re all probably feeling the same thing because they’re _all_ in the same situation. And then the Megazord forms, and they’re alive, and any pain they feel is just remaining from before.

They win.

Jason slaps Rita into space--no, fuck that. Trini slapped her into space. She was controlling the arm, she slapped her. [It’s very important to Trini that they make that distinction.] Zordon is actually proud of them. The town is in _ruins_ , but the five of them are still alive. And that’s something to celebrate.

[They celebrate by sleeping.]

The next time Kimberly sees Trini, she starts off by saying, “So… we’re soulmates.”

Trini sighs and then nods. “Yeah.”

“Did you know before we got knocked out in the Pit?”

“I knew when you punched Ty’s tooth out.”

So it was definitely longer than Kim expected. “That was kind of a long time ago.”

“I guess.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Trini takes a while to respond this time. “You remember what I talked about at the bonfire the other night?” Kimberly nods, so she continues. “I can’t take you home to my parents, Kim. They won’t take it well.”

That _does_ make sense. But there’s still a lot that doesn’t.

“I was scared,” Trini adds, quieter this time.

Kimberly nods. “You’re still scared now?”

“Yeah. But the entire night and morning of that attack was scarier, so I think I’m over it.” Trini shrugs. “Also, I tried not to have feelings for you, but that didn’t really work. I think the next option would be to stop pushing you away.”

Kim smiles and nods again. “I’m a fan of that option.”

Everything catches up to Trini then, and she remembers that it wasn’t just _her_ being weird or avoid-y. “Why didn’t _you_ say something before? If you knew when that Putty hit you?”

“I haven’t been the best example of a good person, Trin. I didn’t think you wanted me to say anything.”

“So we’re both a little self-destructive, then.”

That’s probably the best way to describe it.

“You think we’re gonna reach Zack and Jason level of obnoxious?” Trini asks.

Kim nods. “They’ve made us sit through their love-filled honeymoon phase; they aren’t getting away with that. _I_ think… you should stay at my place tonight--sneak out if you have to--and we take the night to talk through this. We don’t have to go public right away. I get that. That you’re scared and it might be dangerous for you. I’m kind of scared, too. But I don’t want to ignore it anymore.”

Trini doesn’t respond right away. She doesn’t want to let the moment get to her and agree to something she isn’t actually ready for.

So Kim waits. For several minutes. And then she says, “We don’t have to talk _tonight_ , T. You’ve got time.”

“No, I…” Trini starts, but pauses again. “I do want to talk. Tonight.”

Kim smiles.

“I don’t want to ignore it anymore, either. It’s kind of exhausting.”

“Alright,” Kim says. “So I’ll see you tonight?”

Trini nods, slowly walking backwards, and before she leaves completely, says, “See you tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this had gone longer, I think I would've had Billy/Tommy be soulmates, just bc that isn't a very common pairing  
> So... I guess this is totally open for continuation if any of y'all are into that idea...


	2. It Must Be Better Than I Think It Is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been like a year but I finally wrote a part 2 to this. Thanks to everyone who liked the first part, and all of you who kept commenting that you wanted a continuation. It took a while, but it's here!
> 
> [I was honestly trying to get this done for Trimberly week 2018, but clearly that didn't happen. My bad.]

“You got hurt a lot when we were younger,” Trini says. She isn’t sure how to lead into this conversation, but just going for it seems like the easiest thing to do.

Kim nods. “Well, yeah. I was a cheerleader, Trini. I wasn’t taking falls or overworking myself on purpose. But I’m not sure I can say the same for you.”

Trini’s first instinct is to be a smartass in retaliation. Say something like, _“Obviously not, Kim. I wasn’t taking falls or overworking myself because I was never a cheerleader.”_ But she knows that Kim’s talking about the getting hurt on purpose part. And that is something she’s pretty guilty of. “Right.”

“What was that about? Were you trying to get back at me for a bunch of _accidents_?” She asks.

Trini shakes her head. “It wasn’t about hurting you.”

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“I wasn’t thinking about it like that. I was lost, and… I didn’t want a soulmate then, anyway. After a while I thought it’d just scare you away.”

“It did.” Kimberly still doesn’t get it. She was always hyper-aware of the injuries she was getting; thinking about how her soulmate might be handling it. And for Trini, it was just an afterthought. “That’s why I started dating Ty. I knew he wasn’t my soulmate, but I didn’t think my actual soulmate wanted me.”

“Well… I didn’t. But it isn’t that I didn’t want you. I didn’t want anyone.”

Kimberly sits back, shaking her head. “Why?”

“I knew you had to be a girl and that my parents wouldn’t support that. I didn’t have anyone but them and my brothers, and even being with you guys now is new for me. I didn’t want to think about having to choose between my family or my soulmate that I hadn’t even met yet.”

“Do you still think you have to choose?” She’s only asking because _this talk_ kind of signifies a shift in their relationship. They’re acknowledging that they’re soulmates. They aren’t going to ignore it anymore or pretend like they’re better off without each other. But Trini hasn’t said much about her family in the present sense. “I’m not asking you to. But…”

Trini shrugs. “Maybe. I don’t know. Either way, I think I need to tell them.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t have anything visual pop up when we met, so it isn’t like I’d need to hide a timer or some kind of mark. I’ve got time to figure out _how_ I want to tell them.”

“You seem scared just thinking about it.”

“I _am_ scared.”

Kimberly shakes her head. “Well don’t feel like you need to tell them just because I wanted to address this; if you think telling them might go _badly_ … like, dangerous bad or _get kicked out of the house_ bad, then don’t do it.”

“No, I don’t think it’ll be dangerous. I mean, kicking me out might be likely, but… I don’t know. I need to… I need to feel things out first I guess. Maybe they aren’t as bad as I’ve been thinking they are.”

“Alright. Just… be careful.”

Trini raises her eyebrows. “This is the kind of soulmate you’re gonna be, huh? You’re already worrying about my safety.”

“Sure, that. _And_ if you do something stupid or accidentally get hurt, _I’m_ going to be feeling it too.” It’s hard to forget about something like that. Yeah, it’s been present for most of their lives. But the unpredictability tends to keep them on their toes.

“Right. Sorry in advance.”

“Do you plan on doing something stupid anyway?”

“No, I meant the accidents." Trini shrugs. "And I don't think  _I'm_ the one who has a problem with doing stupid stuff. Being impulsive is more your thing.”

That's fair--Kim knows she can be impulsive. But that doesn't stop her from rolling her eyes at the comment.

Trini waits a moment before continuing. “Okay, so seriously. Back to the soulmate thing. The specifics. I don’t think we should… rush into anything.”

“Well, yeah. We still need to get used to hanging out again; things got a little weird once we both started to ignore the connection between us. We have a lot to adjust to.”

“Okay good. I was just making sure.”

They both nod, settling into silence. But they aren’t here for that; they’re supposed to be _talking_. So Kim continues with, “But the guys already know, don’t they?”

“Zack does.”

“So does Jason.”

“Do you think one of them said anything to Billy?”

“I dunno, but he doesn’t need to be out of the loop. I can mention it to him tomorrow or something.”

“Speaking of, didn’t he say he was going to try looking for the green Power Coin? Zordon said it was still on Earth, so it didn’t get knocked into space with Rita. We might… we might be getting a new Ranger soon…” She’s trying to look indifferent. Like nothing about that bothers her. A potential Rita replacement couldn’t _possibly_ go wrong, right?

“Yeah. Are you worried about that?”

“A little.”

She’s definitely failing with the indifference.

Kim can clearly tell that it’s bothering her. “If he finds who this next person is, we’re going to be careful when we talk to them. I don’t think being evil is going to carry over, but if it does we’ll be ready for it.”

“Is it not weird that it’s bothering me? Billy has more of a reason to be apprehensive about this, and _he’s_ the one out there ready to look for the new Ranger.”

“No,” she says. “We’re all going to handle these things differently. We both know that Billy wasn’t unaffected by what happened. He’s going to be dealing with it in his own way.”

“Yeah I guess.”

“That fight is still fresh in everyone’s minds, T. We haven’t forgotten about what we all went through. I mean, we literally only just found all of this out today; the fight was just _two days ago_.”

“No, I know that. I’m not trying to say…” She shakes her head. “I think I just need to get some sleep.”

Honestly, Kim could use some more sleep too. They all could. “Okay, like right now?”

“No, I meant in general. I’m not done talking to you yet.”

“So what else do you want to touch on tonight?”

“Is it too broad if I say _everything_?”

“I’m gonna say _yeah_.” Kim nods. “I don’t think it gets much broader than that.”

They both knew this conversation wouldn’t be easy. But having to pick out specifically each thing they need to talk about is kind of making it worse. “How do your parents feel about this soulmate deal?”

“I haven’t told them that I’ve found you if that’s what you mean. But otherwise they _believe_ in it. No matter who I bring home, if I say you’re my soulmate they’ll accept that you’re who I’m supposed to be with.”

“Then I guess that makes this easier.”

“It doesn’t guarantee that they’ll _like_ you, but they’ll accept it.”

Trini pauses, staring at her with wide eyes. “Why would you say that? You didn’t have to make that distinction.”

“I’m trying to be honest. Wouldn’t you rather be prepared for the worst?”

“I’d rather the worst not even be a possibility.”

Kim doesn’t have a response for that.

Eventually Trini shakes her head and averts her eyes. “Maybe I should just go to sleep.”

“It’s been a long couple of days. We literally _just_ saved the world. So… it’s not gonna end again if we take our time figuring this out.”

“Guess not.”

“Are you gonna stay here, or would it be better if I walked you home?”

“I think I’m too tired to care”

That… isn’t an answer. “So you’re staying.”

“Uh huh.”

Worst case scenario is if her parents find out that she left in the middle of the night. She could just say she found her soulmate; that might surprise them enough that they won’t ask too many questions about the sneaking out part. If she’s vague enough, her mother might even be _excited_ for her. Wishful thinking; she knows. But a girl can dream.

 

\---

 

They find themselves in a bit of a limbo for the next couple following weeks. They’re hanging out like usual, learning to get comfortable around each other again. And that’s going well; it doesn’t take much for them to adjust to that. But they haven’t mentioned the soulmate thing much. Or, at all really.

They both know that once they bring it up, that’s it. They’ll be talking about it, and then they’ll be making plans on how to handle it, who should know, all kinds of things. It’s a little overwhelming to think about, so _experiencing_ it is going to be… they don’t even know.

It becomes a sort of unspoken thing that they would just ignore it for the time being. Even if Jason and Zack spend most of their time talking about how they’re each other’s soulmates. And Zack keeps hinting—very obviously stating—that Kim and Trini need to get it together and admit that they are absolutely meant to be together. It’s like their friends are determined to make them face their feelings for each other; like seriously, what’s up with that?

They learned how to tune the two boys out, though. And that was actually going well.

Until Billy showed up to their scheduled training session with a new person, exclaiming, _“I found my soulmate!”_

After a moment of shock from the other four—because Billy just showed up to their _secret base_ with a complete _stranger_ who should _not_ know about their _secret_ identities—he adds, “Oh, and the Green Ranger.”

Billy gestures in different directions, trying to sort out what exactly he’s trying to say. “Because the… She’s the new Green Ranger _and_ my soulmate. Both of the things.”

While Kimberly and Trini are realizing that they just _can’t_ escape any mention of soulmates, this new girl is both very distracted and confused with her new surroundings.

“I know you said _superhero_ ,” the girl says, staring up at the ceiling. “But, uh… You really weren’t kidding, huh?”

“Isn’t this so cool, guys? My soulmate’s on the team too! We’re all matched up with each other.”

Zack nods thoughtfully. “The universe is keeping it in the team. That’s convenient.”

“Wait. Billy, are you saying you _just_ found her, realized you were soulmates, told her she was the new ranger, and then brought her back here?” Kim asks.

Billy pauses to think it over and then nods. “Yes.”

“Do you think you maybe should’ve… I don’t know, waited in between those things a bit? Like, I don’t understand how she hasn’t passed out from so much happening at once.”

The girl shakes her head. “I’m like fifty percent convinced that I’m in some weird fever dream, but you know… If this is real, then that’s even better.”

“I was so excited, and it all happened so fast,” Billy says. “And because I just found her when she found the coin, that means her powers are going to hit soon, so I thought she probably needed to see Zordon and Alpha. Because we weren’t warned about ours and that caused a lot of destruction. And confusion. And I didn’t know how else to contact her, and I couldn’t come up with an excuse for… anything else because I’m not good at lying, so I told her everything and now we’re here, and she’s taking it really well.”

Wow okay.

“Also, her name’s Tommy.”

“Well what’s your thing?” Zack asks. “How’d you know you’re soulmates?”

Billy’s smiles as he points at his left arm that he’s holding out. Tommy’s also glancing at her own arm, but doesn’t make any other move to do or say anything. “Our first words to each other appeared after we said them.”

Billy’s arm reads: _What? Nothing. What pocket?_

They all look to Tommy, but it takes a minute before she rolls her sleeve up to show her own arm and Billy’s first words to her. _Hey, what did you just put in your pocket?_

Tommy clearly has visible pockets on her jacket, and probably on her pants too, but they’re more curious about what Billy had been talking about. Tommy, before anyone can further question her, holds out the green power coin.

Right. That makes sense.

“Aw, that’s awesome.” Zack smiles. “And hilarious. _That’s_ gonna be on your arms forever.”

“At least it’s interesting," Jason says. "You could've just been saying _hi_ to each other.”

Tommy nods. “Good point, that would be pretty lackluster.”

Zack claps his hands together. “So after we get Tommy initiated into our deal here, are we gonna have to make up rules for training? Like, couples can’t be paired up ‘cause we know how _that’s_ gonna end.”

“You four can do that, but, uh… no,” Tommy says, shaking her head. “That’s not gonna be a problem for us. We’re, like… platonic soulmates.”

“Oh. Well, then nevermind.” Zack shrugs. “So the two of you just aren’t into the whole, like, _dating_ thing, or…?”

Tommy shrugs while Billy shakes his head.

“No, I still am. But that just means I have plenty of time to date other people who don’t have romantic soulmates, or even people who have lost theirs… and I won’t have to wait to find my soulmate ‘cause I’ve already found her!”

“You know what? That does sound pretty dope,” Zack says. “I just hope this _Ranger_ business doesn’t cause too much trouble for you in that department. But, hey, if you ever need a wingman…”

While he tosses up a couple of finger guns, Tommy does the same and adds, “Or wingwoman…”

“Yeah! We’ve got your back, buddy.”

Now that it’s been mentioned, Zack isn’t the only one worried about how their Ranger identities might interfere with Billy’s potential love life. Hopefully that doesn’t cause them any problems for _at least_ another month.

They really need more time to adjust to all of this craziness.

 

\---

 

Although their conversation the other day instilled a bit of doubt over whether or not telling their families would be a good idea, Kimberly does end up telling her parents about Trini. She doesn’t go into much detail about it; just says she’s found her soulmate and they’re working on figuring things out. Like Kim expected, they have a pretty tame reaction. They’re happy for Kim, and they want to meet Trini. Other than that, there isn’t much else for them to say since they don’t _know_ Kim’s soulmate yet. There isn’t much of a choice there, so Kim says she’ll find a time to invite Trini over for that. It might take a while before she’s free to come over, but… it’ll happen sooner or later.

Meanwhile, Trini’s still having a bit of a personal struggle with this whole thing. They had the conversation--like, they were both present and participating in it--but hearing that she’ll have to meet Kim’s parents just makes everything so much more _real_.

The internal panic leads to her having a bit of a heart to heart with Zack. It kind of comes out of nowhere. She finds herself suddenly talking about it without any prompting, and Zack’s letting it happen, so. This is a thing now.

“I know I found my soulmate, but… How do I know if I’m ready? You know?” She shakes her head. “I mean, I guess you don’t know. I _found_ her, but I don’t know if I’m in a place in my life where I’m ready to have someone else so… involved.”

Zack waits a moment before saying anything. “You didn’t talk to her about this?”

“No, I want an outsiders opinion first.”

“Well, call me crazy, but I think the universe put you together _now_ for a reason. We’re superheroes now; it makes sense that we’re meant for each other. You know? We have a bond--on multiple levels--that no one else is gonna understand,” he says. “But, just because she’s there doesn’t mean you have to force a connection. It’s more like… a safety net? Look this sounds better in my head.”

It sort of makes sense.

“I didn’t think I’d be ready for anything soulmate related for a really long time. It’s just been me and my mom, and I wanted the best for both of us. Some other person just dropping into my life didn’t sound appealing. But when I saw Jason, I saw the world a little differently. Literally.” He shrugs, glancing at her. “Nothing changed right away. But when I got up and saw my mom that Monday morning after the crash, she told me that something about me seemed different. That I was looking at everything around me in awe, or something. So I told her I met my soulmate. Just for a second. And now I can see everything in color.”

It always seemed like things clicked for him and Jason so _instantly_ . Then again, that first week that they _became_ Power Rangers was intense and crazy, and she was already distracted thinking about her own soulmate. So clearly she was looking at their relationship through some kind of mental filter.

Zack continues on, smiling now. “She was so happy for me. Told me that she hoped I would run into him again, that… that she really hoped she could meet him. And then she said something about how if I _went to school_ , maybe I’d find him there… she wasn’t too subtle about that one. Point is, I took that to heart. I opened my heart to you guys. My mom. Jason. The rest of you. You’re the most important people in my life. It makes sense to me now.”

“That sounds really nice.”

“It is. And I know that you and Kim are going to have different experiences than me and Jay. You’re soulmates, T. That doesn’t mean you have to break out the U-Haul.”

 _Wow. Funny_.

“Look. If you aren’t ready to let her into your life completely, you need to tell her that. If you need time, you need time. She’ll understand,” he says. “But if it’s something else and you’re nervous or trying to punish yourself or… I don’t know. Just make sure you’re doing what’s best for you. For both of you. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.” It might take her another night to really think all of that over, but it does make sense.

“Dope.” He smiles again. “And also there’s Billy and Tommy. They just met, and they’re soulmates, but it’s taking them more than a minute to get in tune with each other. Not everything’s gonna be all black and white. I would know.”

He nudges her arm with his elbow, and winks when she looks at him.

“You’re the worst.” She shakes her head. “But you’re right. So thanks.”

“Anytime.”

 

\---

 

Even with all of the soulmate stuff going on--and Rita having been defeated--they still have Ranger things they need to be doing. Mostly training, since they’ve been warned that Rita was only the beginning and more bad guys are after the Zeo Crystal. Tommy’s also becoming a part of the team, so they’ve been taking a good amount of time to help her transition into everything. Trini’s a little apprehensive about that, but so far it’s all going smoothly.

Ironically, as soon as they stop focussing on the details of their relationship, Trini and Kimberly actually start getting more comfortable around each other again.

Going out to Ernie’s--since Krispy Kreme was sort of demolished--and having more moments like their initial “doughnut date.”

Giving each other looks during Zordon’s lectures.

Hanging out with the others.

It’s all going much better.

Some particularly interesting moments occur when they spar with each other now. It was vague enough before that they never paid much attention to the pain; they were always more focussed on Zordon yelling at them about the end of the world.

There are several times during these sessions that Trini keeps getting distracted--she blames Zack--and Kim takes advantage of it to win their rounds. It’s annoying, and Kim’s getting way too cocky, so Trini has to come up with her own idea to fix that.

The next time she finds herself in that situation she slaps herself in the face.

Obviously Kim feels it too, and she’s so surprised by it that she actually pauses for a moment. And that’s all the time Trini needs to sweep Kim’s feet out from under her to make her fall to the ground.

The others propose that they probably shouldn’t spar with each other anymore because “hitting yourself isn’t going to work against anyone else.” That might be true, but they are still training. This way it exercises their problem solving skills and quick thinking. Right?

There’s also a brief moment where Zack grabs Trini’s hand and starts hitting her in the face with it, but he’s looking at Kim to say _“Why are you hitting yourself Kim?”_

Trini’s the only one who doesn’t seem to find it even _a little_ bit amusing.

 

\---

 

It might not be the best timing, but for something like this there might not _ever_ be a good time to get it done. So Trini’s going to hope for the best and get it over with and tell her parents about finding her soulmate. Worst case scenario she gets kicked out and either stays the night with one of the Rangers or down in the ship. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

It happens in the middle of dinner. And it wasn’t exactly planned, so when her parents ask about _things_ she impulsively shrugs and says, “I met my soulmate.”

She says it so casually that there’s a beat of silence at the table while everyone processes the new information. And then all at once they start talking over each other. Her brothers are just being annoying and trying to tease her, so she doesn’t pay much attention to them. But her parents are asking all kinds of questions. Just like she was expecting.

They go back and forth with a few variations of, _“What’s he like?”_ and then a handful asking where and when and how it happened. And Trini realizes that, unfortunately, she has to commit to this now. She can’t get away with playing it off like a joke; they won’t believe her. So she settles for gently breaking the news.

“You aren’t gonna like what I have to say,” she says simply.

For some reason, neither of them seem to take the statement seriously.

She lets them go on a bit longer, asking more and more questions despite not receiving any sort of response; let alone answers. And then she interrupts them.

“Her name’s Kim.”

This quiets the table again--even causing her brothers to pause for at least a second.

Her mother stares at her with an expression she can’t read, and slowly says, “So this is… a platonic soulmate…?”

Right. That wouldn’t be too hard to run with. She could settle and keep that up as a front. It’d probably be the safest bet… But she doesn’t trust how well she can keep a lie like that. And consistently maintaining it could get… complicated. “Nope.”

“When did you…?”

Not the reaction she was expecting, but that doesn’t mean anything. It just hasn’t sunk in yet. “It’s been more than a couple months.”

This time her father responds. “But you’re only just now telling us?”

“Can you blame me? I didn’t know how you’d take it. You’ve never given me any reason to think you’d be even remotely okay with this.”

Her parents glance at each other. The silence feels amplified, especially since her brothers are still too intrigued by the change in conversation to be making any noise on their own.

When the conversation picks up again and her parents give their genuine reaction, they’re actually… pretty okay with it. _Okay_ is a very rough way of putting it, but they aren’t yelling, they aren’t freaking out, and they haven’t kicked her out of the house.

They realize how some of the things they’ve said or done through the years had to have really hurt Trini, and she’s clearly been internalizing a lot. And they’re really sorry about that. At least, that’s what they say. Whether or not that’s true, she can’t tell yet.

They also acknowledge that they do have their opinions and beliefs, and their initial reactions might not be to _agree_ with this turn of events, but… if it’s something that obviously causes their daughter so much pain and turmoil and trauma, they probably need to reevaluate a few things. _“Probably.”_

It’s more than she was expecting, so she’ll take it.

And it might take a while, but they think they would like to know more about Kim at some point. After they take some time to seriously think this over.

To say Trini’s surprised by their reactions is an understatement.

The next time she sees Kim, she tells her everything that happened. Sure, she could’ve done it all over text, but this felt like something that would be better said out loud. And, to be honest, she’s glad she did wait for that. Seeing Kim’s excitement in person wouldn’t have compared to making assumptions based on text patterns and emoji usage.

Also, she gets a kiss, and that probably wouldn’t have worked out through the phone either.

 

\---

 

The biggest worry that Trini and Kimberly now have to face--well, the _second_ biggest worry right behind the next impending apocalypse--is knowing that Trini has to meet Kim’s parents, and Kim has to meet, not only Trini’s parents, but her brothers as well. They’re trying not to panic over it. Kimberly’s handling that a lot better than Trini is.

Kim’s more focussed on acknowledging that she has some personal problems to work through. She’s pretty sure depression isn’t something that’ll just go away on it’s own, so… finding a professional to talk to is probably the next step. Whatever ends up happening, she knows she has her friends behind her and she’s ready to put in effort to move on from her darker days.

Billy and Tommy’s friendship is developing quicker than they had anticipated. But, then again, they know they’re soulmates so they should’ve expected that they’d end up clicking the more they hung out. Also, there hasn't been any sign of leftover evil from Rita. They wouldn't know what to look out for, and they aren't letting their guards down completely, but it's looking pretty good right now.

It doesn’t really have anything to do with Tommy, but it _does_ have to do with Billy’s love life when he tells everyone that he met a really cute person at the pastry shop on the edge of town. The only reason it _sort of_ relates to Tommy is because Billy was trying to find a place that had a _really good_ version of Tommy’s favorite food that she hasn’t had since she moved to Angel Grove. And that shop was the best and the closest. (He got his mom to help out with _driving_ there.)

According to Billy, him and this other person started talking while they were waiting. They’d asked about the sentence on Billy’s arm, so he went into a whole explanation about his soulmate, including that they’re platonic soulmates. And then the person mentions that they’ve met their platonic soulmate too, holding a hand out to reveal a blue patch that symbolizes their first physical contact.

He doesn’t know if he’ll see them again, but he knows their name, and it could be complicated because he’s a Ranger and has to uphold a secret identity and stuff, and the person might not even like him too, but he could _try_. Right?

Tommy responds with a, _“Hell yeah, dude!”_ and a fist bump.

Everything seems to be going well for the other set of soulmates on the team too. Jason’s already met Zack’s mom, and they get along so great that Zack is completely over the moon. But Jason’s still gotta introduce Zack to his family. He’s told them about it, and it took his dad a bit of time to warm up to it, but they’re all good now. And he really thinks they’ll like him.

Or he hopes they will.

Trini and Kimberly are getting to a stable place too. In general, and as a couple. They’re adjusting and figuring things out. The pain still sucks, especially with their new biggest hobby of punching things. But it’s something they can power through.

After almost dying a few times, it’s gotten a lot easier to push through some of the smaller things. Like getting punched in the face. They’re starting to have a really high pain tolerance.

All _six_ of them now are ready to take on whatever’s going to be thrown at them next. They’re a team; they’re _Power Rangers_. They can take it.

No matter what it is.


End file.
